Job v. Harlan

13 Ohio St. 485, 13 Ohio St. (N.S.) 485
CourtOhio Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 15, 1862
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 13 Ohio St. 485 (Job v. Harlan) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Ohio Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Job v. Harlan, 13 Ohio St. 485, 13 Ohio St. (N.S.) 485 (Ohio 1862).

Opinion

Peck, J.

The suit before the justice of the’ peace, was for the recovery of $300, for injuries to plaintiff’s sheep, by the dog of defendant. The cause, after final trial by the justice, was appealed by the plaintiff therein, to the court of common pleas of Greene county, and the first error assigned, is the refusal of that court to dismiss the appeal, for want of jurisdiction in the justice to try it.

This objection, if it be one, was saved to plaintiff it error, it having been made by him before the justice, and overruled.

In McKibben v. Lester (9 Ohio St. Rep. 627), it was-decided, and we think correctly, that the amendatory act of May 1,1854, conferring concurrent jurisdiction upon justices of the peace, for sums over $100, and not exceeding $300,fis to be construed as if embo'dieu in the act which it amends; so that the words, “under the restrictions and limitations herein provided,” refer to the restrictions and limitations of the original act, after all the amendments made thereto, are introduced into their proper places' therein; and also, that the second section of said amendatory act does not restrict the enlarged jurisdiction conferred by the first section, but extends it to suits upon contracts for a still larger amount, where the balance claimed to be due does not exceed $300 The rule of construction established in the case cited, is decisive of the question before us. The concurrent jurisdiction conferred by the act extends to any suit, for an amount [489]*489exceeding $>100 and not exceeding $300, as to which the original act had given justices of the peace exclusive jurisdiction for the lesser sum, and prominent among these subjects of exclusive jurisdiction, are actions for injuries to personal property, where the damages claimed do not exceed the sum of $100.

2. Was the defect in the transcript, in not setting forth a copy of the undertaking, such as required a dismissal of the appeal ?

Section 113 of the act regulating the jurisdiction and procedure before justices of the peace, provides that in cases of appeal from his final judgment, the justice “ shall make out a certified transcript of his proceedings, including the undertaking taken for such appeal, and shall, on demand, deliver the same to the appellant or his agent, who shall deliver the same to the clerk of the court, to which such appeal may be taken, on or before the day of the term next following such appeal.”

The transcript in this case, does not set forth a copy of the undertaking. It recites that the plaintiff, Harlan, gave notice for an appeal of the case, and that Joseph R. Weakly entered into a recognizance for such appeal, in the sum of $100. The undertaking does not appear to have-been ever entered at large upon the docket; but the original undertaking itself, as taken and approved by the justice, was delivered to the clerk by the appellant, together with the transcript, and at the same time.

The thirteenth subdivision of section 203 of the same act, seems to require that the undertaking shall he entered at large upon the docket; but it was held in Carper v. Richards, decided at the present term (ante, p. 219), that the requirements of that section were merely directory to the justice, and that if the act enjoined was in fact done, the mere omission of the justice to record it at length upon the docket would not prejudice the party. So, too, a literal compliance with section 113 would, perhaps, require the transcript to contain a copy of the undertaking, but a substantial compli anee with the statutory 'equisites for perfecting an appeal, is [490]*490all that is necessary,.and especially so, in appeals from such inferior tribunals.

The object of the requirement is to notify the court, and the adverse party, of the existence and effect of the undertaking which has been executed; and this would-be .effected as well, if not better, by the exhibition of the original undertaking itself. Regularly, the undertaking, not being a paper used on the trial (sec. 113), should remain on file with the justice before whom it was executed, and a certified copy only transmitted to the appellate court, for its information; still, we think, the filing of the original undertaking, is, as regards the adverse party, a substantial compliance with the statute, requiring a certified transcript of the proceedings-,, including the undertaking for an appeal.

3. A third ground relied on in the court below, for a dismissal of the appeal, was that the .original undertaking filed with the transcript, is not such as the law requires to perfect an appeal, in two particulars : 1st. That it is not executed to-the adverse party. 2d. That it does not contain, either in substance or effect, the stipulation, that the appellant would “ prosecute his appeal to effect, and without unnecessary delay.”

Section 112 of the statute reads as follows:

“ Seo. 112. The party appealing shall, within ten days from the rendition of the judgment, enter into an undertaking to the adverse party, with at least one good and sufficient surety, to be approved of by such justice, in a sum not less than fifty dollars in any case, nor less than double the amount of the judgment and costs, conditioned : 1. That the appellant will prosecute his appeal to effect, and without unnecessary delay. 2. That if judgment be adjudged against him on the appeal, he will satisfy such judgment and costs. Such undertaking need not be signed by the appellant.”

There is nothing in the objection that the undertaking is not, in express words, made to the “ adverse party.” It is entitled in the action, and taken and approved by the justice trying it. The docket shows that Weakly was surety for the appeal of this cause, and that the “ appellant ” specified in [491]*491the undertaking is the plaintiff, Harlan, and the appellee, or “ adverse party,” is, of necessity, the defendant, Job. In this view, the undertaking is a substantial compliance with the statute. Besides, section 112, is, in this respect, identical with section 41 of the former statute (Swan’s St. of 1841, 512), and yet in the form given on page 527, for a recognizance under that section, the “ adverse party ” is not named, nor expressly alluded to, and the form there given is identical with the one used in the present ease. The legislature, therefore, in using the same words, in the same connection, must be supposed to have sanctioned the legislative construction which had been put upon them

A much more serious question is presented by the objection, that the undertaking does not, in substance nor effect, contain one of the- conditions specially required by section 112, above quoted. The condition of the undertaking is, “ that the appellant, if condemned in the action, shall pay the condemnation money, and costs that have or may accrue in the court' of common pleas.” This, in substance and effect, is nothing more than the second requirement of section 112 : “That if judgment be adjudged against the appellant on the appeal, he (the appellant) will satisfy such judgment and costs.” The undertaking, it will be perceived,, entirely ignores the first requirement of the section, “ that the appellant will prosecute his appeal to effect, and without unnecessary delay.” This particular requirement was, for the-first time, introduced by the act of March 14, 1853.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Vossman v. AirNet Sys., Inc. (Slip Opinion)
2020 Ohio 872 (Ohio Supreme Court, 2020)
Dewar v. Hector
22 N.E.2d 535 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 1938)
Kingsley v. Yocom
170 N.E. 180 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 1929)
W. J. Donnelly Co. v. Fidelity & Casualty Co.
155 N.E. 558 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 1926)
Johnston v. Wilson
123 S.E. 222 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 1924)
Mehmert v. Kelso
26 Ohio C.C. (n.s.) 350 (Hamilton County Court, 1916)
Mehmert v. Kelso
6 Ohio App. 69 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 1915)
Meyers v. U. S. Health & Accdt. Ins.
20 Ohio C.C. Dec. 807 (Hamilton Circuit Court, 1907)
Holmes v. Murray
105 S.W. 1085 (Supreme Court of Missouri, 1907)
State ex rel. Weems v. Kinney
20 Ohio C.C. 325 (Belmont Circuit Court, 1899)
State ex rel. Prosecuting Attorney v. Kinney
11 Ohio Cir. Dec. 261 (Ohio Circuit Courts, 1899)
Chapman v. Seely
8 Ohio C.C. 179 (Ohio Circuit Courts, 1891)
Gimperling v. Hanes
40 Ohio St. (N.S.) 114 (Ohio Supreme Court, 1883)
Brigel v. Starbuck
34 Ohio St. (N.S.) 280 (Ohio Supreme Court, 1877)
Ford v. Albright
31 Ohio St. (N.S.) 33 (Ohio Supreme Court, 1876)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
13 Ohio St. 485, 13 Ohio St. (N.S.) 485, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/job-v-harlan-ohio-1862.